Wednesday, May 18, 2005

I'm not as concerned about being out of a job than I am about being bored in my job.

I think I mentioned this before, but when I started I was feeling overwhelmed with all the looming projects I was walking into. This was all based on my manager's description of what she was responsible for. That was about 6 weeks ago.

For the past 2? 3? weeks I've been going insane, not because I'm overworked, but because I can't find enough for me to do to keep me occupied. This 'mountain' of work that I anticipated when I started? I think my manager was exaggerating. And I don't even think she realized it.

I am juggling 5 different things going on, and it's all manageable, mainly because the items that I am directly responsible for haven't hit yet, or my deliverables are staggered at different times. I can tell you what's going on now in any of the projects and I have all my information organized and easily accessible. I'm not saying I'm Super Project Manager or anything, I just multi-task pretty well - as long as I'm interested in what I'm doing.

My manager however, is a different story. I actually feel sorry for her. I see her as a scared puppy dog sulking in a corner because she accidentaly pooped on the rug. She seems to be flustered when I give her updates on the current projects and she's trying to be an active participant in them, but there are more times when she's just in my way than actually being a befefit to me.

It's very weird. I don't want to absorb myself in a job. All I want is to come to work in the morning, do my job and be productive, and then leave it all behind when I go home. I don't want to sit here all day staring at the computer; have to teach my boss about the project/process/technology; or play secretary.

And to top it all off, I don't have a permanent place to sit. I've been moved to two cubicles, I have another set up in the 'bullpen' - a small space shared with 5 other people! If I actually have to sit there, I'll be wedged between two foreign developers with their elbows literally in my ears. When I get back from vacation, there'll also be a new person on the team, an intern. I want to know what the hell is there for him to do? There's hardly enough for me to do.

Barry is not a fan of the vaccuum cleaner. As soon as I click it on, he's slinking away under the bed or in the corner. Last week I went to look for him and found this familiar shadow behind the shower curtain.

Friday, May 13, 2005

I've been tracking my order of my newly purchased iBook. It left China this morning and is on the way half-way around the world to me. I just hope it gets here before next Saturday because I'm outta here!

People think I'm wierd to want to bring a laptop with me on vacation. It's not as if I plan on spendind the day laying out on the beach surfing websites. I want it so I can edit my video tape while I'm still there, and have a complete vacation DVD as I step off the plane when I get back home. It's all for fun.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

I leave for vacation to Punta Cana in one week. It will be a mega-vacation on an all inclusive resort with 22 of our closest friends and relatives. I have a feeling, that even if it rains the entire time, we will still have a good time.

Except for the one thing that is weighing on my mind. Part of this 22 person group are my old idiot friend, Dave and Brian. If you don't remember Brian, let me refresh your memory.

I haven't spoken to him since then, about a year and a half. So much has happened since then; Jim is gone, I own a house and a dog and I'm basically in charge of my own life. I don't know how he and I are expected to interact. I have no ill feelings - I could get right back on to our 'Jerry / Elaine', 'Rachel / Joey' friendship without any problems or baggage from the past. The only problem is that I don't know how Brian will be.

So I sent him an email. I was direct, to the point, but witty. Now I'm just hitting refresh on my Yahoo account to see if he responds.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Barry woke me up again at 5:30 am to go out and poop. I know it was to poop by the intensity of him licking my face. He had to go out. NOW. I ignored his urgent licks the other day and awoke to two perfectly formed turds by my front door.

Barry woke me up again at 6:15 am to eat. Fine. I was now officially awake and able to do my yoga stretches to ease my stiff lower back.

I have nothing to do at work. My manager is out of the office for the next three days, so at least I don't have to try very hard to look busy. I answer an email, I make a phone call, and my to-do list is done for the day.

I went to my car to take a nap. I woke up after an hour hot and sweaty.

My lunch sucked. I had a buffalo chicken sandwich with too much wing sauce. It was too hot and the wing sauce and blue cheese just dripped out of the bread all the way down my wrist.

It's nice outside and I'm in here, dressed nice in work clothes, thinking of all the fun things I could be doing with my time instead of sitting in a cube.

Someone brought their kid in today. This kid wasn't happy. He screamed and whined in the office right behind me. The office door was opened and the piercing scream echoed inside my head. I got up to walk away, anywhere else but there, but no matter where I walked in the building, all I heard was that kid screaming his head off.

A woman in some office somewhere was having a phone conversation - by speakerphone - with the door open. I HATE speakerphone, especially when it's used out of pure laziness. Pick up the phone lady, I have no interest in hearing directions on how to get to Dunkin Donuts.

I can't even find something intersting to distract me online. I was looking as various blogs, and accidentally came to analteensex.blogspot.com. Oops.

My pc crashed and the main hard drive couldn't be saved. Oh how I can't wait to get my iBook.

Monday, May 09, 2005

I have just purchased an iBook. Being from a PC background... all the way from the Radio Shack TRS-80, I am quite stressed on this life altering technology platform shift.

There were several reasons why I decided to turn to Mac:

I had an urge to make a major purchase

I wanted to bring a new electronic toy on vacation

I wanted to play with video editing more

My Dell crashed

My birthday is coming up and I wanted to buy me a present

As soon as I clicked on the 'Buy' button, I was excited to get my hands on a new toy, a pretty wireless laptop that I can play with video editing to my hearts content. But I also got worried...what if my mac doesn't play nice with my PC? Will I get them to network? Will I get so enamored with my mac, that I forsake my PC and have to buy new Photoshop and Office software? What if my newfound freedom from wires and the Blue Screen of Death will encourage me to quit my job and become a world traveling adventurer, documenting my journies through photo and video? What if I spend years on the road in exotic locales, missing my family and friends grounded in the US? What if I live out my fantasy of people watching on street cafes and walking through ocean surf at sunset to the carols of tropical birds? What if I become an expatriot living in the caribbean?

Thursday, May 05, 2005

I never wear stockings with my shoes, so as the day goes on, more and more sweat collects in my shoe, thus making my feet stinky. I normally kick off my shoes for comfort and to give them some breathing room, but I have to wonder if the smell wafts over these cubicle walls.

In other news, today is Cinco de Mayo. 05/05/05. I think I need to make myself some strawberry margaritas at home. Pit stop at the liquor store for some tequila!

Monday, May 02, 2005

I rode down by myself - I was meeting up with Brian, Melinda & Andrew and Andrew's college friends. Andrew graduated from U of Deleware so it turned into a reunion for him.

It took be a while to find the hotel. The directions I got online sent me in the wrong direction. Finally I got to where I needed to be and hung out with Brian in the lobby while we waited for Melinda & co.

We all got ourselves together and went out to the first bar - I forget the name, but it was off the main strip. All of us - about 10 of us, got some pitchers and took over a table. That's what I missed the most about school, the college bar prices.

At about 11pm Melinda, Brian and I walked to Jen's apartment to pick her up so we could go out. When we got there, Jen relized that she doesn't have her drivers license! The first words out of her mouth wasn't "how am I going to get in the bars?", but "I've been driving around without a license!".

What a nerd. Jen is the only one of us cousins who never got into trouble. If she had a fake ID like the rest of us, this wouldn't be a problem. While Jen went out to her car to see if it was in there, we made videos making fun of Jen on Brian's cell phone.

We decided that we were going to try and get Jen in using her license renual paperwork. Jen was really nervous because they card hard there.

We walked to the Stone Baloon which was just down the street and stood on a crazy ass line. By the time we got to the frint, it was 11:56pm. We said to the hot bouncer, "Ok, here's the situation..."

We told him how we drove for three hours just for Jen's 21st brithday and she lost her license, but here's her renual stuf, blah blah blah. He took one look and said "Ok, just hang out by the side for 4 minutes." So at midnight we entered the bar to celebrate.

We had a good time people watching, drinking 24oz $2.50 Coronas and $2 shots. Andrew was completely hammered and eventually blacked out and didn't remember anything.

The bar closed at 1am, so we mingled around outside at the curb for a while. We watched 2 guys knock down a garbage can across the street and yelled until the cops pulled them over - to the cheers of us across the street. I took a picture of one of them with his hands on the hood of the cop car. After he was let go and the cops left, Mr. Tough Guy knocked over another garbage can.

Andrew was beligerant and could hardly stand up. His friends were doing sumersalts on the grass. It was college revisited.

We stopped back at Jen's place. Melinda had to bring Andrew back to the hotel becuase he was such a mess. Brian and I hung out a little while longer, then stopped off at Dunkin Donuts before walking back to the hotel.

Andrew wasn't in the hotel room when we got back. When he did get in, he passed out, fell facr first, on the bed next to Brian and me. Whatever.

I woke up later in the night when Andrew got up to use the bathroom. I couldn't tell if he was peeing on the floor, in the tub, or where ever. Regardless, something was up and I didn't want to know what he was doing in there. I heard Andrew leave and got up to see what kind of trouble he was getting in. He was lightly knocking on his friend's door.

I had to go to the bathroom, but I went down to the lobby. I left with Andrew standing in the hallway. I came back to him standing in the same spot.

When Andrew finally came back in the room, I told him to pass out on Melinda's bed, not mine. He did, fully clothed, with his shoes on.

The next morning we went to breakfast at the diner - after we took wrong turns all over campus in the pouring rain. No big deal. I was driving. At the diner we left a note in the guestbook for Jen's birthday and took off for a jacker for Melinda.

We finally ended up at the mall where everyone bought at least one thing. Brian found a cool Rincon Beach hat in Abercrombie. Weird.

Later we went to Jen's apartment. Margie and Willie came up for her recital and brought dinner.

It left not long after dinner. I was meeting The Quad in Philly to see "Tony & Tina's Wedding", but that's another story.